The Controversial Mission to the Jews. A 1964 Correspondence between Helmut Schmidt, Hamburg’s Senator for Interior Affairs, and Bishop Hans-Otto Wölber

Source Description

This source consists of four machine typed letters of one or two pages dating
from the period between April and August 1964. A fifth and last letter that
contained selected press articles was sent in September 1964. Copies are
kept in two locations: the Helmut Schmidt
archive at the Archiv der sozialen Demokratie, Bonn and in the
files of Bishop
Hans-Otto Wölber
at the Landeskirchliches
Archiv der Evangelisch-Lutherischen Kirche in Norddeutschland
(Nordkirche) at Kiel (signature
11.02 Bischof für Hamburg).

In the spring of 1964, Helmut Schmidt, Social
Democrat and Senator for Interior Affairs in the city
state of Hamburg, who also served as a board member to the Society of Christian-Jewish
CooperationGesellschaft für
Christlich-Jüdische Zusammenarbeit in
Hamburg,
learned that the local
Protestant church was engaged in missionary work among Jews.
This was cause for concern for both Schmidt and the Jewish
community. He contacted the Protestant-Lutheran Bishop
of Hamburg,
Dr. Hans-Otto
Wölber, personally in order to gather information on the
matter and expressed his criticism of missionary work of any kind among
Jews.

(Pre-)history to the correspondence

Protestant reformers had attempted to convince Jews to
convert to Protestantism as early as the 16th
century. However, the Protestant mission to the Jews
officially began in the 18th
century with the work of Johann Christoph Wagenseil;
1728 saw the founding of the Institutum Judaicum in
Halle, whose
mission was to study Judaism and convert Jews to the Gospel. The Revivalist
Movement of the 19th
century further boosted missionary work among Jews,
especially in England.

After the end of Second World
War and following the Holocaust, the mission to the Jews underwent a
realignment. Among Protestants the basic legitimacy of proselytizing Jews had
been increasingly challenged since the 1960s. However, it was only in 1980 that the synod Assembly of
Christian clergy where decisions are reached about questions of
faith. of the Protestant Church of the Rhineland became the first regional
church in Germany to reject missionary work among Jews on principle.
Within the Roman-Catholic Church there had been a discussion on missionary work
among Jews since the Second
Vatican CouncilCatholic Church
assembly in the Vatican from October 1962 to December 1965, at which it was
resolved that the Roman-Catholic Church should open up to the outside world
and undergo renewal. issued the declaration Nostra aetate“Declaration on the Relation of the Church
with Non-Christian Religions“ adopted at the Second Vatican Council, in
which other religions were recognized. (1965). In 2009, the Central Committee of German
CatholicsZentralkomitee der deutschen Katholiken rejected any form of missionary work among Jews,
emphasizing instead the dialog between Christians and Jews.

The correspondence between Senator
Schmidt and
Bishop
Wölber illustrates the
two differing basic positions in this nationwide debate. It is remarkable that a
politician showed such a strong interest in this issue and expressed unequivocal
opposition to any kind of missionary work among Jews at this early date. At the
time his position was a minority view among Protestants, however, it was to
become the majority view some decades later.

In his letter Helmut
Schmidt takes an adverse stance against Hans-Otto Wölber, a
representative of the church whom he otherwise greatly respected, for his
continued support of the mission to the Jews, which represented the majority
view among Protestants at the time. Schmidt devoted a lot of
time to this debate and – despite his fundamental distance from theological
scholarship – he educated himself thoroughly on the issue by reading general
theological journals. Not only did he demand tolerance in religious and
ideological matters, but he also showed a particular sensitivity towards
Israel and
Judaism which was informed by his experience of the “Third Reich”.

Course of the discussion and lines of argumentation

The debate was prompted by a board meeting of the Society for Christian-Jewish
CooperationGesellschaft für
Christlich-Jüdische Zusammenarbeit
founded in 1952, during which this topic had been
discussed. Schmidt had
been surprised to hear that the regional church was engaged in missionary work among Jews and
made an inquiry regarding the matter to the bishop on April 30, 1964: “There are no more than 2000 or
3000 Jews living in Hamburg at this time; I would consider proselytizing among them
– regardless of any possible theological justification – misguided church
policy. I have already heard a very bitter remark made by a Jewish person about
this kind of work.” While Schmidt did not outright dismiss the possibility that the church
might have a theological argument for their mission to the Jews, given the
historical experience of the Holocaust, he considered it far less important than
good relations between Christians and Jews.

Yet the Bishop of Hamburg in his letter
of May 13, 1964 insisted on proselytizing Jews
explicitly for theological reasons without considering the Jewish perspective at
all. According to Wölber missionary work meant “establishing contact between
groups which God directed towards each other by his acts throughout history.
[...] This has nothing to do with overbearance on the part of Christianity, with
racial prejudice, with a lack of repentance among Christians in Germany or whatever
else one might assume.” Schmidt was not entirely convinced by this clerical reasoning,
however, as he wrote on July 13, 1964: “While I
can agree with the term “service to Israel”, I still
consider the term “mission to the Jews” inappropriate, just as I consider any
kind of missionary work among German Jews inappropriate.”

Schmidt remained
interested in the subject: from an article in the journal Lutherische
Monatshefte written by Paul
Reinhardt he learned that a theological argument could be made
against the mission to the Jews as well. Schmidt writes that he
strongly agreed with the view of Günther Harder outlined in the article – Harder was a
professor of New Testament Studies at Berlin’sKirchliche Hochschule
and an active member of the German
Protestant Church Committee on Jewish-Christian dialogArbeitsgemeinschaft
Juden-Christen beim Deutschen Evangelischen
Kirchentag, who disapproved of campaigning
for Christianity in conversation with Jews. Thus Schmidt continued his
correspondence with Wölber regarding this matter on August
26, 1964. To claim that the goal of the mission to the Jews was
“saving Israel”
was “infinitely overbearing”, as Schmidt very aptly phrased it. As citizens
we were called upon to “show tolerance towards other faiths” – “tolerance born
from respect for the religious beliefs of our neighbors”. His letter illustrates
that Schmidt considers
Jews German citizens of a different faith – thus putting
Judaism on a par with Christianity. Consequently, citizenship – and implicitly
the state – is neutral, granting equal rights to all faiths.

Schmidt states his
particular interest in the issue of proselytizing Jews resulted “from
remembering the particular role some Lutheran Christians of earlier generations
unfortunately played in the treatment of Jews”. This might be an actual
reference to Martin
Luther and his problematic late writings on the Jews; more
likely, though, Schmidt was mainly thinking of the Lutheran German Christians
Deutsche Christen of the Nazi period since his
personal experience during this time strongly shaped his actions as a
politician. This view and this kind of sensitive consideration of the National
Socialist past were quite rare in church circles in the 1960s.

Wölber stuck to his
view, however, and on September 22, 1964 he sent
Schmidt some
recent articles on the mission to the Jews taken from the journal Lutherische
Rundschau. The bishop then ended their debate with a vague
phrase, avoiding any further discussion of their differences on this issue:
“When we inquire about redemption within the whole breadth of religious thought,
the Christians still believe they have to counter the views of their Jewish
brothers. But you are right in saying these are all questions which are answered
in very different ways among the ranks of us Christians as well.”

Schmidt and Wölber argued on different
levels. While the bishop focused on theological arguments,
Schmidt was
primarily concerned with the political ramifications of the mission to the Jews
considering Germany’s responsibility for the Holocaust. In his mind, these
outweighed any theological justifications since he sought peaceful coexistence
of both religions.

Further course of discussion and late agreement

Three decades later, in 1995, the Society for Christian-Jewish
CooperationGesellschaft für
Christlich-Jüdische Zusammenarbeit
published a “Rejection of the Mission to the Jews”, which triggered a fierce
debate, particularly in church circles. The publication was prompted by
increased immigration of Jews from the former Soviet Union who were
targeted for conversion by Evangelicals.

Helmut Schmidt
continued to oppose the mission, rejecting proselytizing of any kind in a
lecture delivered in December 1997 at the Bavarian Churches’Augustana College in
Neuendettelsau: “It is not at all conducive to peace between
faiths, between religious communities, and churches if one of them tries to woo
away members from another one – no matter how good their intentions may be.” In
his book “Außer Dienst,” a self-described
“stocktaking” published in 2008, Schmidt states he had always
respected the faithful, “regardless of which faith they adhere to.” Religious
tolerance was essential: “Every human being must allow every other human being
their faith and their religion. He must also allow them their skepticism.
Humanity needs religious tolerance, and therefore each individual needs
religious tolerance. [...] For this reason I have always considered Christian
proselytizing an offense against humanity.”Helmut Schmidt, Außer Dienst. Eine Bilanz,
Munich 2008, pp. 288f.

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About the Author

Rainer Hering, Prof. Dr. phil. Dr. theol., is director of the State Archives Schleswig-Holstein and professor for German history at the University of Hamburg as well as honorary professor at the University of Kiel. His focus of research lies within modern and contemporary German history with a regional focus on Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein.

This text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - Non commercial - No Derivatives 4.0 International License. As long as the work is unedited and you give appropriate credit according to the Recommended Citation, you may reuse and redistribute the material in any medium or format for non-commercial purposes.